There are a couple of stories I've told over and over again to the point that I can't remember who I told or when. Usually, it's my kids who tell me that it's the third time I've repeated it. Anyway, this is one I tell frequently.
At one of the radio stations I worked at in Vermont, I was given the task of cleaning out some old shelves of records in a hallway you had to walk through between the business offices and the recording studio where we produced commercials off air. The contents of the shelves was to become trash, but there were a couple of old albums I saved -- one was a Nat King Cole collection, the other was the Mills Brothers.
I read someplace recently that the Mills Brothers records were the kind of thing that young people listen to when they're high and then say, "Wow, those guys really knew what they were doing," or something like that. Anyway, I used to do that... a lot.
From Ohio, originally, there were four in the group Herbert, Harry, Donald, and John Jr., along with their father John Sr., who played the guitar. John Sr. owned a barber shop where the group was formed, and I remember seeing them on TV when I was young.
It's made me sad to see to see them pass on one by one. Harry always seemed the most gregarious of the bunch and was usually the spokes person when they appeared on TV variety shows. I remember seeing him gain weight and eventually perform seated in a chair while the others stood around him. In the "Nevertheless" video linked below of their live performance on stage in 1981, he's on the far right and, by then, blind from diabetes. One of the things that touches me about that video is how the other brothers step away from the microphone letting him sing alone when he had to be lead on stage due to his inability to see.
When I really like something, I'm sometimes moved to tears. I've thought about that a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that it's greatness that makes me cry. I think the Mills brothers are great, and in particular, their interpretation of "Nevertheless."
It's playing right now, and tears are running down my cheeks.
